


A Glance over Their Coexistence

by flmngdzhng



Category: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trap
Genre: Angst, Frenemy, Gen, HIStory Web Series - Freeform, I have not proofread it, Jiang Jin Tang | Doctor Jiang, Pre-Relationship, a little bit fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-02-29 22:03:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18787105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flmngdzhng/pseuds/flmngdzhng
Summary: Tang Yi may not be able to explain why Hong Ye should treat Shao Fei better, but she soon learns from her own experiences.





	A Glance over Their Coexistence

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just a little too much in love with Hong Ye.

That particular morning instead of leaving their respective living places for works, Tang Yi and Hong Ye had gone straight to the hospital. The night Tang Yi had received an update on Shao Fei’s condition from Doctor Jiang, he had forwarded the information to Hong Ye and she had asked Tang Yi to take her with him if he had planned to go there the next day. Though Tang Yi had sounded unsure about it, he had agreed with her at last and picked her up to go there together.

Both of them walked hand in hand through the entrance door, past the lobby, through several people passing by, until they rode an elevator to the second floor and got out of it. Along the way to Shao Fei’s ward, Hong Ye remained silent as she let Tang Yi lead her there. She could not stop thinking of what might happen once they saw Shao Fei again, could not stop wondering what kind of treatment Shao Fei would be giving them when he saw them, and could only hope whatever and however it would happen, it would not be too bad. There was just no way she could endure such a thing when all she wished for was forgiveness.

Tang Yi seemed to notice her unsettledness even more than she did though. She felt something warm against her upper arm and found it was his hand.

“Are you okay?” Tang Yi asked her.

She looked up at him and showed him a small smile.

“I’m fine.”

Tang Yi only nodded and then he opened the door to the ward, never letting go of her as they approached Shao Fei on his hospital bed.

“Tang Yi,” she called, instantly as her eyes caught Shao Fei’s unmoving body.

“It’s alright, Hong Ye. He’s just sleeping,” he said, reassuring. “And do you mind if we stay for a while?” he asked.

And, of course, she did not mind at all. She let him when he walked away to stand by the bedside and watched him from where she stood.

There, except for observing, Tang Yi did nothing else. His worry was obvious, even without his saying it out loud. In that moment, she could see it herself that Tang Yi was beginning to realize something more than casual attraction to the sleeping man developing within him, that he was accepting it. It was something she had never seen during the past years following the tragedy that had taken their father figure from them.

Surprisingly, she did not find it hard to accept that. If being with Shao Fei could make Tang Yi happy, she would accept that and probably could lend some help if necessary. _Later_ , she thought, _right now Shao Fei’s recovery is the priority_.

Besides, she still owed Shao Fei some apology for everything.

After looking over Tang Yi for the last time, she decided to let Tang Yi have some privacy to do what he wanted to do. She turned and left the ward, and would come back after Tang Yi was done.

 

 

\----------------------------------

 

 

Used to being surrounded by men of Xing Tian Meng since she had been small, Zuo Hong Ye had become a spoilt princess of Xing Tian Meng. She was used to thinking the world revolved around her and, no matter what, there would always be someone or some people—such as Tang Yi, Gu Dao Yi, and perhaps Tang Yi’s subordinates—to support and protect her from any danger. Tang Yi would do his best to keep her away from harms and Gu Dao Yu would—as often as he had for her in the past—clean up the mess she did and would make. And she hoped everything would stay the same, peaceful—as much as it could be considered so—without any disruption despite the fact that chaos was always possible happened once in a while.

Only it all had come to an abrupt change when some persistent police officer had barged into Tang Yi’s life. Meng Shao Fei and his audacity to chase Tang Yi in order to get the truth of what had happened four years prior, which had taken the previous Xing Tian Meng leader’s life away, had given her no time to relax. Whenever Shao Fei was around and involved himself in Tang Yi's business, _something_ would happen. And that _something_ was not a good thing.

From her perspective, to involve the gang with the police force already put Xing Tian Meng in a difficult position among the underworld gangs, let alone having some persistent policeman around constantly watching every move Tang Yi made. In that case, she could not just stay put and let anything—especially a mere police officer—ruin Tang Yi’s plan to reform Xing Tian Meng. She had to do something to protect Tang Yi from Shao Fei just like Tang Yi always protected her from threats. If necessary, she would not mind sticking close to Tang Yi, reminding him to stay away from Shao Fei until Tang Yi did so and she was convinced he would do so in the future as well. She did not care if it was too much, if Dao Yi had also suggested that since Xing Tian Meng was in the process of severing its connection with the underworld, gaining additional protection from the police force might advantage them. But she would not alter her stance, because she cared about Tang Yi’s safety. She would not let something that had happened to Master Tang repeated and took him, the only remaining family she had after Master Tang had left them, from her as well.

 

Lady luck, however, was not by her side.

She eventually found out, Tang Yi had not done as she had told him to. Instead of staying away from Shao Fei, the two men had even become closer to each other, to the point of confirming their  _half_ -friend relationship (' _Who the fuck has come up with such stupid term?'_ ), just because the police officer had once again saved his life.

And when she confronted him, Tang Yi would just tell her that Shao Fei was not someone she should concern herself with and was no threat to them at the moment. She had been too mad to listen to the rest of Tang Yi’s explanation, and eventually completely not been aware of the plan already forming in Shao Fei’s head, until the following days she came to Tang Yi’s place, Shao Fei had already moved in.

 

“How much can a police officer earn per month? It’s quite normal to be greedy for money,” she said to Shao Fei one day as she caught Shao Fei in the kitchen helping himself for a glass of water.

She knew well how to strike and bringing up Shao Fei’s late senior in such situation would do. So she did and successfully hit the bull’s eye. 

“I forbid you to badmouth her,” Shao Fei snapped at her immediately.

What she had not expected was that Shao Fei would actually lay his hand on her. Had Tang Yi not appeared and shoved Shao Fei away, Shao Fei would perhaps have done something more.

“Don’t touch her!” Tang Yi snapped back while Shao Fei was trying to get up from the ground.

 Once she saw it, she seized the opportunity.

“Tang Yi, he was mean to me,” she said as Tang Yi side-hugged her.

Shao Fei tried to defend himself, but Tang Yi refused to listen to him.

And later they just remained there as they watched Shao Fei made a mad dash to the door.

She smirked, satisfied that she finally made some progress.

 

\---

 

Her hope faltered a little when she still saw Shao Fei around Tang Yi the following day.

“Tang Yi, are you still going to let him stay here?” she asked Tang Yi.

But Tang Yi said nothing.

"Why? I have told you over and over again. But you didn't listen. Why?" she snapped at him.

"Hong Ye," he said and she stopped him from saying more.

"Fine! Do what you want!" she said before she left.

Their argument that day made her even more determined to do it without letting Tang Yi know. If Tang Yi did not make Shao Fei leave soon, she would. It did not matter if she had to dirty her own hands.

 

She did not wait longer to work on her plan.

And part of her plan was to make Shao Fei uncomfortable.

To do so, she tried to insult Shao Fei every time she came to Tang Yi’s place. She made sure to put an impression that Shao Fei’s existence there was not welcome.

But once again, luck was not on her side. It worked only in the beginning. Shao Fei unexpectedly became accustomed to everything she did to him and eventually no longer paid mind to her attempts at all.

 

“Hong Ye, aren’t you tired of doing it all?” Shao Fei asked her one day.

She was at Tang Yi’s place to discuss something with him. However, Tang Yi was not home at the moment. Having nothing to do at her own place, she preferred to wait there and that meant she had to wait with Shao Fei who happened to be there. (She was kind of curious about it but thought better than to ask him.)

“Why? If I'm tired of it, are you going to leave on your own?” Hong Ye asked back.

“What? No way. I’m not going to leave until—“ Shao Fei said.

“Until what?” she asked in challenging tone.

Shao Fei was quiet for a while. “Until I discover the truth for sure.”

She rolled her eyes at Shao Fei’s answer. She doubted it was his only reason. After all if it were his sole reason, he would be fine doing his investigation without staying at Tang Yi's place, right?

In front of her, Shao Fei put down two cups of water. She watched Shao Fei in suspicion.

“What? I didn’t put any drugs in it,” Shao Fei said—upon realizing her watching eyes—and rolled his eyes. He took one of the cup and drank the content till the cup was empty. “See?” he said as he pointed his jaw at the empty glass.

She decided to trust Shao Fei this time, thinking it would be too reckless for Shao Fei to drug her while knowing how protective Tang Yi was when it came to her.

“Why aren’t you with  _that_  man?” Shao Fei asked suddenly. He sat himself on the chair across the couch she was sitting on and she had been too tired to reprimand him.

“Why do you care? It’s not your business after all,” she said.

Shao Fei sighed. “Just curious,” he said, and added, “It's just I’ve been too used to seeing you two going everywhere together so seeing you go separately is rather strange to me.”

She did not give any comment to that and preferred to pick up the magazine on the coffee table and begin reading. After awhile, out of curiosity, she sneaked a glance over Shao Fei who had been quiet in the meantime. However, upon doing so, something caught her attention: A tuft of hair sticking up on Shao Fei’s head.

She did not know what happened to her. All she knew was she found that tuft of hair peculiarly interesting and gave her some idea to kill the time aside from reading some magazine.

“Meng Shao Fei,” she called.

“What?” he asked.

She smirked at him and beckoned him to sit next to her.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Tang Yi entered his living room to the sight of Shao Fei’s head already covered up with many tufts of hair and Hong Ye kneeling on the couch next to him in the middle of what seemed to be tying up another tuft.

 

\---

 

Without realizing it, Hong Ye had also become accustomed to Shao Fei’s presence. Little by little she learnt something new about him. That included the discovery about Shao Fei’s romantic attraction to Tang Yi, which, surprisingly, had not come as a surprise to her. She had long since expected it knowing that Tang Yi had ability to attract both genders. What confused her was, despite the way Shao Fei expressed himself, Shao Fei had not seemed aware of it.

It was both funny and sickening at the same time.

_“Tang Yi, why did you not let me drive you last night?”_

One particular Sunday, she had just entered Tang Yi’s house when she heard Shao Fei’s loud voice somewhere. Behind her, she had felt, Dao Yi had been no different than her.

“What’s it about this time?” she mused as she walked further to the inside of the house.

Dao Yi remained silent, but she had not missed him smiling a little.

They proceeded to where Tang Yi might be and upon finding Tang Yi—along with Shao Fei who was still busy ranting about something—in the kitchen, they saw Tang Yi at the stove in the middle of frying something. Shao Fei stood next to Tang Yi like a sore thumb due to his rants.

“Have you forgotten that I am here to protect you? That includes being with you every time and everywhere if possible,” Shao Fei said, impatience filling his voice.

She tried not to draw attention as she made her way to one corner of the room, Dao Yi not far behind her.

“I already had someone to do that job last night,” Tang Yi said, sounding not affected by Shao Fei’s nagging at all.

“But what if something happened to you?” Shao Fei asked.

“But nothing happened, right?” Tang Yi responded.

“But—“ Shao Fei was about to continue his ranting but Tang Yi cut him as Tang Yi said, “Oh, you’re here, Hong Ye, Dao Yi,” when noticing her and Dao Yi’s presence. Shao Fei looked both surprised and frustrated next to Tang Yi.

“What was that sore thumb ranting about this time?” she asked.

Tang Yi smiled at her and she could not help but smile back.

“Just ignore him. He’ll stop when he’s tired,” Tang Yi said. “Come and have lunch with us.”

She was awed by how effortless Tang Yi had said that, how effortless Tang Yi had called Shao Fei and himself  _us_ , as if they had been together for long.

_Since when had they been this domestic?_

Over their lunch, in awe, she ate while watching Shao Fei and Tang Yi’s interaction again. Once in a while, Tang Yi—albeit seemed not to realize it himself—would put something to Shao Fei’s plate. In exchange, Shao Fei would pour drink for Tang Yi or try to feed Tang Yi something.

When turning her attention to Dao Yi, the bespectacled man seemed to be in a state similar to hers but remained silent until their lunch was over. Looking at Dao Yi, she couldn't help but suddenly feel a little jealous of Tang Yi and Shao Fei’s semblance of domesticity and hope something happened to her and Dao Yi too.

 

\---

 

“Tang Yi, I want to buy something. And I want to borrow Shao Fei to accompany me,” Hong Ye said one late morning.

It followed the day she had had another argument with Dao Yi. The argument had brought not only disappointment but also embarrassment to her, putting her in foul mood until the following day she had come to visit Tang Yi at his office.

She had initially come to Tang Yi’s office only to discuss some business matter. She had had no intention to stay there longer than necessary when Dao Yi was there.

“What? Me? Why  _me_?” Shao Fei shrieked.

“Miss, let me—“ Dao Yi tried to interject but she ignored him.

She smiled at Tang Yi and said, “Don’t you feel sorry for wasting his combat skills and other talent by giving him menial tasks?”

Tang Yi said nothing although seeming to have seen her real intentions.

"Besides, he looked rather bored when I saw him just a while ago," she added.

Tang Yi was quiet for seconds before he nodded.

“Alright. You can take him with you,” Tang Yi said.

“What? Tang Yi, you can’t just say that! I’m supposed to be here with you,” Shao Fei argued, looking firm with his preference to stay there with Tang Yi.

“Shao Fei, just go shopping with Hong Ye,” Tang Yi said.

“Impossible. I am here to protect you, not her,” Shao Fei argued again.

“I’ve finished all I’ve got to do here for the day and I can go home on my own,” Tang Yi said. “But—“ Shao Fei tried to argue but was cut right away as Tang Yi said with finality, “Besides, if you can take care of her well, it would mean you taking care of me well, too.”

She was impressed by the display of Tang Yi’s ability to easily manipulate Shao Fei. It was rather amusing to see. But she had also felt a little sorry for Shao Fei. She wondered if Shao Fei would jump from the top of the building if Tang Yi asked him to.

“Okay, then,” Shao Fei said, finally agreeing, and turned to her. “Let’s go! Where do you want to go?”

“Well, there are several places on my mind. Make sure you’re all prepared for it,” she said while smirking at Shao Fei.

While leaving Tang Yi’s office with Shao Fei, she made sure to glare at Dao Yi. There was something akin to worry on the man’s face but she did not let it affect her and grabbed Shao Fei by hand to leave Tang Yi’s office, exit the building, and go to the first destination.

 

 

 

“How do I look?” she said as she exited a fitting room and did a little parade before Shao Fei in a set of clothing she was trying.

Shao Fei looked at her in disbelief.

“Are you  _serious_? Who’s going to wear such ridiculous clothing? Can’t you see it resembling seaweed?” Shao Fei said.

She rolled her eyes and walked back to the fitting room to try different clothes she had picked on beforehand, and showed them to Shao Fei again. All of them did not impress Shao Fei at all. She was starting to wonder if Shao Fei were blind or simply had no taste.

It was until the fifth time she walked out of the fitting room did she find Shao Fei already dozing off while waiting for her. She blew some air on his face to wake him up, and had to hold her laugh back as he jerked awake in a rather hilarious way.

“How about this then?” she asked while showing him a set of rather promiscuous-looking items. “Should I buy this?” she lifted one of her brows in suggestive manner.

Shao Fei widened his eyes and sputtered, “No way! There’s no way you should buy those!”

She rolled her eyes again and told him, “You really have no taste!” and walked back to the fitting room.

 

Several minutes after trying on the rest of clothes, she finally was done and all prepared to drag Shao Fei elsewhere. However, she walked out of the fitting room and found him dozing off again. She could not hold herself back as she noticed her pink-rimmed sunglasses covering his closed eyes. Fishing her phone out, she took several pictures of him, saved them, and left Shao Fei there to stroll around on her own.

Feeling a bit worried of leaving Shao Fei behind, she returned to the boutique to check on him.

 

“Miss Hong Ye, why did you just leave on your own?” Shao Fei whined some time later when she met him halfway to the boutique.

“I did not have heart to wake you up, Meng Shao Fei, so I let you sleep a little longer and strolled around on my own,” she said to him teasingly.

This time she led him to an ice cream parlor, and albeit with some difficulty, managed to make Shao Fei buy an ice cream for himself.

“Alright. But I pay for my own ice cream for Meng Shao Fei would never take bribes,” Shao Fei said, reasoning as he rejected her intention to treat him to it.

 

At the table he had chosen for them, they enjoyed their ice creams. Hong Ye watched Shao Fei taking spoon by spoon of the ice cream to his mouth like a little kid and reluctantly admitted it was a little entertaining sight.

"You looked really adorable with your drooling face when you slept. It must be fun to show it to Tang Yi," she said suddenly a little while later.

That instantly drew Shao Fei’s attention and she smirked at him.

"You're not serious," he said and continued bringing a spoon of ice cream to his mouth.

“Want to take a look?” she offered.

That stopped him from eating.

"Miss Hong Ye, that's not funny! Delete those pictures, please!" he whined, darting his eyes to look for her phone, which of course remained in her pocket.

"I'll definitely show it to Tang Yi," she said, sticking out her tongue, before went back to eating her ice cream.

 

In that moment, she thought, it was actually refreshing to hang out with someone who was unlike those men of Xing Tian Meng she had grown used to be with. Around Shao Fei she could finally feel what it was like to be with a friend, someone to have fun together. She had ever had fun with Tang Yi of course, but it had been before Tang Yi had taken over the leader position. Also with her circumstances, it was almost impossible for her to have some friends who were loyal and sincere to her. She would not waste her time to be friends with some people only to be betrayed in the end. And with someone as guileless as Shao Fei, she somewhat felt more less insecure. And though sometimes he could be unbearable, she felt like she could still enjoy his company, considering that when he was serious, he could be a good listener, too.

 

"Dao Yi is so annoying," she said at some point when they had stopped their banter over the pictures of Shao Fei's sleeping face.

"Why? He seems like a good man to me," Shao Fei said in return, his confusion apparent on his face.

She shook her head in rather vigorous manner.

"No, Shao Fei, you know nothing," she said.

"Well what could he possibly do to make you this upset?" Shao Fei asked.

"Shao Fei, have you ever—“ she paused before saying, "Imagine how embarrassing it is when your _feelings_ are not reciprocated," and in smaller voice added, "He even had audacity to  _refuse_  me yesterday."

Never had she thought what would hurt her the most was what she gained from her own constant pursuit of love. Actually, if she had been more honest to herself, she could have seen it already: the way Gu Dao Yi had never once shown any intention to reciprocate her from the very beginning. The older man had only been seeing her as the little princess he had to protect, to serve, and nothing more in romantic way.

She had several times considered asking Tang Yi for help out of desperation, but when she had really asked, Tang Yi had refused right away, reasoning that he would never want her to end up getting hurt even more if it did not work out as the way she wanted. It had been difficult to admit how right Tang Yi had sounded back then, but she was also not sure if she could just let it go. Besides, she thought, she was used to it. And hanging on a little longer would not hurt, right? Maybe if she waited a little longer, Gu Dao Yi might come to love her just the way she had always been loving him for years.

All she had to do was to make Dao Yi notice her desire even more. She had to have him know that she was also able to drive him insane. And one day, which happened to be the day before today, with some determination, she had decided to take it to the next level. Putting aside her own pride, she did everything she could to show Dao Yi her  _wants_.

Shao Fei choked on his ice cream and sputtered out his disbelief, "What? Did you mean you actually—"

She waited as he tried to compose himself.

And next he went on, "Excuse me, Miss. You cannot just force yourself to him!" Shao Fei shook his head. "You are an intelligent person, Miss. Try to think of some other ways not to actually stoop that low—oh my goodness I can’t believe it."

Hong Ye rolled her eyes and retaliated, "Then what? Tell me how to do it. I'm not sure you actually can come up with some solution when you have less to none experience in  _this area_  as well."

Shao Fei shook his head vigorously and said, "But if I were you I would never stoop that low for a man."

Hong Ye glared at him and said in demanding voice, "Then just tell me how to do it already."

"About that—actually—" he tried but failing.

She sighed then and said, "You clearly are no expertise in this area as well. I can tell you that because even you  _haven’t succeeded_  yourself."

Shao Fei went silent immediately.

Hong Ye smirked at Shao Fei.

 

Once they were done with their ice cream session, she suddenly felt like going home instead of going on with her initial plan. Once they finished eating their ice creams, she led him to leave the shopping center and asked him to drive her back to her place. He had asked her if she would not want to go somewhere else first, so she simply told him she felt tired already.

They proceeded to the parking lot, once in a while exchanging teasing remarks on their way there.

 

However, it could be really fun but could also be dangerous for them to engross themselves in a banter out in the open.

 

Without her realizing that dangers had been following her, she did not see someone pointing a gun with silencer at them from inside a black van in the parking area. She had already been too late the moment she heard the sound of bullet flying their way, and the next time she came to her sense, she was lying on the ground with Shao Fei's heavy body lying down on top of hers. When she finally was able to move herself from him, she found him bleeding and unconsious.

 

\---

 

"Tang Yi, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she repeated as she sobbed on Tang Yi's chest.

Tang Yi did not say much and only tightened his hands around her.

The injury on her hand was not severe, but Doctor Jiang made sure to do CT scan to see if the inside of her head got injured or not. Doctor Jiang then went on with the update about Shao Fei’s condition, saying Shao Fei had been shot in the abdomen and required surgery as soon as possible. Such information tormented her even more that she barely felt her throbbing injury. She cried even harder as she felt Tang Yi’s hands tightening around her and was made aware of Tang Yi’s intensified anger.

“Tang Yi, let me see him,” she said in between her sobbing.

“Not now, Hong Ye. You need to take some rest first," Tang Yi whispered.

She was about to argue but Tang Yi was quicker, “Enough, Hong Ye. You'd better take care of yourself first," he said.

And so she obeyed Tang Yi.

 

Moments later, following Doctor Jiang’s instructions, she was taken to the CT scan room and finally allowed to go home when the results showed no damage inside her head and it was safe for her to take a rest at home.

Tang Yi had offered to take her home, but she refused and told him to wait for Shao Fei and inform her about Shao Fei's development. Tang Yi agreed and she went home with Dao Yi.

 

She was quiet on the way home. Dao Yi occasionally would glance over the rearview to check up on her. When they arrived and reached the door to her room, she was caught of guard as Dao Yi pulled her closer to hug her.

 

“Don’t worry. He’ll be okay," said him as he stroked the back of her head. The comforting gesture made her tears fall again.

“But he got shot because I took him with me," she said, her voice muffled by Dao Yi's clothes.

“It’s not your fault," Dao Yi said.

“He got shot because he protected me," she said, insistently.

“You didn’t know it would happen,” he said again.

“But he’s not supposed to—it’s supposed to be me! It’s—“ she said and raised her voice, eventually causing herself to choke on her sobbing.

“It’s not something you can control. Wouldn’t it be  _worse_  if you were the one getting shot? Who knows what Boss  _might_  do to him?” Dao Yi said, trying to talk some sense to her.

Hong Ye could only tighten her grips on his back and kept crying. In that moment, she remembered the last conversation she had had with Shao Fei before the shooting had happened. Shao Fei had passionately told her how he would always keep his promise no matter what. He had emphasized that even though she was not Tang Yi, he was willing to protect her because he had promised Tang Yi that.

She could not imagine how it would be like if it was her who had been shot instead of Shao Fei. Not only would Tang Yi be disappointed in Shao Fei, but Shao Fei would also feel disappointed in himself for failing to keep his promise.

 

 

\----------------------------------

 

 

When Hong Ye was back to Shao Fei's ward, she found no one paying a visit. Careful with her steps in order to not disturb Shao Fei, she approached Shao Fei who seemed to be asleep—if he had been awake before she had no idea—and sat herself down on the chair by the hospital bed. It might, she supposed, have been brought there by someone who had been visiting before she returned.

Shao Fei looked so different from his normal self with his face so pale and no smile plastered on his lips. Gone was his vibrant self. He should, she hoped, be back though, once he was fully recovered.

Looking at Shao Fei’s current shape, regret then came back to her all at once. She regretted not being cautious enough when she had been warned to always be cautious everywhere and every time even more so with Chen Wen Hao’s return. She regretted her emotion-driven action that had put them in such deadly situation, which had led to Shao Fei taking the bullet to protect her. Not only had she made Shao Fei shot, she also had put Tang Yi in more difficult situation.

Her tears fell again and suddenly she felt too ashamed to be there. With head bowed so deep her chin almost touching her upper chest, she wept while murmuring apologies in repeat.

 

“Hong Ye?”

She went still as she heard Shao Fei’s weak voice.

“Hong Ye?” Shao Fei called her name again.

This time she lifted her face and looked at him.

Shao Fei offered her a weak smile and a silent stare, which made her more uneasy.

“Are you okay?” Shao Fei asked after a silence.

Her brows furrowed at the question. Even during such moment, Shao Fei managed to concern himself with her wellbeing.

 

“Of course I’m not okay,” she snapped, surprising both Shao Fei and herself. She then rolled her right long sleeve up until it showed her bandaged arm and showed Shao Fei that. “You can see it yourself, right?”

Shao Fei’s brows furrowed at the sight of her bandaged arm, his face looking worse than it had already been. “ _Shit_. Tang Yi’s going to kill me once I’m out of here for sure,” he said.

Scandalized by Shao Fei’s remark, she quickly pulled her arm and cover it with her long sleeve again. How could such thought actually cross his mind? She wondered. All she got was bruises, no fractured bones and no head injury, meanwhile he had been shot and had to undergo an operation to save his life. And yet, he had actually thought Tang Yi would dare do so after what had happened had almost taken his life?

“Shao Fei, why do you think Tang Yi would do such a thing? You still have to protect him until both of you reach your goals right?” she asked, not realizing her own worry latching onto her voice.

“But you’ve got hurt and I failed to catch the culprit. Tang Yi—“

She shushed him by rising to her feet and looked him in the eyes as she stood by the bedside.

“Listen,” she said. “It’s not you but me. I’m the one who’s supposed to feel sorry, to apologize. I’m the one who has caused everything to happen. I’m the one who’s made you like this. If Tang Yi dares do something bad to you, I would not forgive him.”

 

Before her, Shao Fei looked taken aback. It did not come as a surprise as she was actually able to understand why he was taken aback by her statements. She had been used to resent him until later when she had found something other than his unbearable traits. She had several times tried to hurt him in order to drive him away from Tang Yi. The whole time they had known each other, he was used to her rejection, her ill feelings. So it was no wonder to her if such utterance coming from her had baffled him.

 

“That’s why, Shao Fei,” she said after a silence. “I want to apologize.”

Shao Fei remained quiet. It unsettled her even more.

“Will you be able to forgive me?” she asked, prompting him to at least say something.

There was another silence again, and then she could hear Shao Fei sighing.

“Alright then,” Shao Fei said next. “I forgive you, Miss Hong Ye. But you have to promise me something.”

 

Both in disbelief of Shao Fei’s willingness to forgive her and anxious of what came next, she asked, “What is it?”

 

Shao Fei smiled at him before he said, “Promise me that you won’t ever say anything bad about my senior.”

 

She let out a breath she did not realize she had been holding. Feeling grateful, she took Shao Fei’s free hand and gave it a light squeeze.

“I promise you that, Officer Meng Shao Fei,” she said with determination.

Shao Fei returned her with his smile.

“Maybe we can try to be friends this time,” she said as she pulled her hand away, but in a small voice that Shao Fei had not managed to catch her words.

“What did you say?” he asked.

But she shook her head. “Nothing,” she said.

“No. It’s definitely not _nothing_ ,” he said, persistently.

She only rolled her eyes and walked few steps away from the bedside.

“And now since I’m done with my business here, I’d better leave for my other business,” she said nonchalantly.

And before he could say anything else, she quickly turned to proceed to the door.

 

Outside the ward, she smiled at herself as relief once again filled her chest. She was ready to start over with Shao Fei. Just as Dao Yi had said to her the previous night, she should treat Shao Fei better.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> And if you want to say hi, you're welcome to visit me [here](https://flmngdzhng.tumblr.com/)


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